title: Methotrexate-induced nausea and vomiting in adolescent and young adult patients.
abstract: This study aims to determine the prevalence of methotrexate-induced nausea and vomiting in both adolescent and adult patients with inflammatory arthritis. A survey of methotrexate side effects was conducted on patients with inflammatory arthritis. We provided a brief questionnaire to unselected patients with inflammatory arthritis being treated with methotrexate attending adolescent and adult rheumatology clinics. The questions related to the presence, absence, and severity of nausea and vomiting, the temporal relationship with methotrexate and whether anti-emetics had been prescribed. A total of 106 patients from the age of 13 years and above--57 adults (over 20 years) and 49 adolescents (13-19 years) were included in this study. The median age for those experiencing nausea was 19 years (interquartile range (IQR) 7) and for those with no nausea 55 years (IQR 46) (p < 0.001). Thirty-six out of 49 adolescent patients reported nausea (73%) compared to only 20/57 adults (35%) (p < 0.001). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the nausea group had a significantly higher proportion of adolescents (p = 0.0002), patients taking subcutaneous (SC) methotrexate MTX (p = 0.002), and patients with duration of MTX of more than 1 year (p = 0.049). Adolescents were estimated to have over 6 times higher odds of nausea compared to adults (OR 6.31, 95% CI 2.38 to 16.75, p = 0.0002) after adjusting for SC MTX and duration of MTX. Only 22% of adolescents and 10% of adults were prescribed anti-emetics. There is a higher prevalence of MTX-induced nausea and vomiting in adolescents and younger adult patients with inflammatory arthritis compared to older adults. The role of anti-emetics in the treatment of these symptoms is unclear.
authors.affiliation: Arthritis Research UK Centre for Adolescent Rheumatology, UCL Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College London (UCL), London, UK.
authors.forename: Pravin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rawcliffe
authors.forename: Abigail
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olaleye
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.forename: Debajit
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.forename: Yiannis
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ioannou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D014839:Vomiting / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D008727:Methotrexate